Suez cement reports positive 3Q12 results.

Egypt’s Suez Cement has reported positive results for its third quarter, bagging a net profit of EGP398 million.

The company’s growth in the domestic grey cement market continued, climbing by 2% in the third quarter (or by 6.6% on a year-to-date basis). Over the last year, the company has suffered from reduced domestic sales but could not match the volume demand as its plants continued to suffer from various strikes and energy shortages. Though Egypt’s cement consumption is beginning to climb back toward its pre-revolution rates, new capacities entering the market have made competition fierce, and this has also formed something of a barrier to Suez Cement’s growth.

The company has managed consistent increases in its export volumes, though this has not been sufficient to entirely offset the loss of domestic sales. Efforts toward reducing energy and maintenance costs have been made, with the resulting improvements in efficiency contributing to the overall positivity of the company’s 3Q12 performance.